Psychology: History and Research

Sub-Field: Clinical

Studies causes, treatments, and prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral psychological disorders.

Sub-Field: Developmental

Studies changes that occur in humans that are linked to a specific are range from birth to death.

Scatterplot

The type of graph used to represent correlation from a correlational study.

Control Variable

The variables that are kept constant throughout the whole experiment.

Unlicensed Counselor

0-4 years of college. Does experienced based work like camp counselor or support groups. Cannot prescribe medications. $.

Psychiatrist

12+ years of college, school: bachelor's in premed >> medical school >> residency >> medical doctor (MD). Can prescribe medications. $$$$.

Licensed Counselor

6 years of college, school: bachelor's in psychology/education/etc, master's in counseling. Cannot prescribe medications. $$.

Clinical Psychologist

8-10 years of college, school: bachelor's is psychology, graduate school, doctoral in psychology (PsyD). Cannot prescribe medications. $$$.

Confounding Variable

A factor in an experiment that cannot be controlled, but that may affect the end results of an experiment.

Experiment

A method of research where a specific treatment is actually given to each patient, and data is collected from the patient responses to the treatments. Must have a hypothesis and follow the scientific method.

Survey

A method of research where patients are asked a series of questions. Data is easy to display, and surveys are relatively cheap. People who lie or don't take the survey seriously can affect results.

Correlation Coefficient

A number between -1 and +1 that indicates how strong the correlation is. The closer the coefficient is to ±1, the stronger the correlation. The closer to coefficient is to 0, the weaker the correlation.

Correlational Study

A study that will tell you if a relationship exists between 2 data points, how strong the relationship is, and what type of correlation exists. This study does NOT prove anything (correlation not causation).

Hypothesis

An "if...then" statement that is used to outline the independent and dependent variables that will be tested in an experiment.

Random Sample

An experiment must have randomly chosen subjects/experimental units, otherwise the results cannot be used in science. Methods of random sampling include using a random number generator, drawing names from a hat, flipping a coin, or using a convenience sample.

Quasi Experiment

An experiment that doesn't have random assignment (bad).

Case Study

An in depth, multi-year, detailed research on a few people. Used for rare cases/unusual cases (by race, gender, background, diagnosis). Case studies take years to make because they involve knowing everything about a patient, and that kind of trust takes years to develop.

Placebo

An inactive substance or treatment that is identical to the experimental treatment, yet used as a control.

Sub-Field: Personality

Examines characteristics that make people unique by investigating persistent traits.

Sub-Field: Industrial/Organizational

Focus on relationship between people and work.

Sub-Field: Social

Focuses on how we view and affect one another.

Sub-Field: Counseling

Goal is to improve everyday functioning of people by helping them cope with daily challenges and stressful situations.

Perspective: Social-Cultural

How behavior and thinking vary across situations and cultures.

Perspective: Psychodynamic

How behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts.

Perspective: Behavior Genetics

How our genes and our environment influence out individual differences.

Sub-Field: Forensic

How psychology can be used in law enforcement, prosecution, or defense. Job examples: providing testimony in court, criminal profiler.

Perspective: Neuroscience

How the body and brain enable emotions, memories, and sensory experiences.

Perspective: Evolutionary

How the natural selection of traits passed down from one generation to the next has promoted the survival of genes.

Perspective: Cognitive

How we encode, process, store, and retrieve information.

Perspective: Behavioral

How we learn observable responses.

Evolution of Psychology

Mental process (1870's) >> Evolution (1900's) >> Development (1920's-1930's) >> Behavior (1950's).

Wilhelm Wundt

The "Father of Psychology". He opened the first school of psychology in Leipzig, Germany in 1879. He said psychology was the combination of philosophy (abstract, "why", "how", emotion, purpose) and physiology (parts of the body and how they work).

Independent Variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated. The "if" of a hypothesis, the part of the experiment that you change.

Dependent Variable

The experimental variable that is measured in it's response to the independent variable. The "then" of a hypothesis.

Population

The group from which subjects for the experiment are chosen.

Control Group

The group that does not receive any treatment, that is used to compare results to.

Placebo Group

The group that receives a fake (placebo) treatment.

Experimental Group

The group that receives the treatment.

Subject

The people that are being studied in a study or experiment.

Psychology

The scientific study of behavior and mental process.

Goal of Psychology

To identify, predict and control problems in humans.

Naturalistic Observation

Watching/studying people in their natural habitat, preferably without them knowing you are watching. This type of study is used if the person would act differently if they knew they were being watched (reduces subject bias).

Subject Bias

When a subject behaves differently than they would naturally, since they want to act accordingly to the study they are in. Subject bias changes results and is not always controllable.

Double Blind

When both the subjects and the researchers do not know what treatment a subject is receiving, preventing both experimenter bias and subject bias.

Placebo Effect

When the desired results are achieved in subjects who received a placebo treatment, because they thought they were receiving the real treatment and mentally this caused them to act/heal to the desired result of the experiment.

Experimenter Bias

When the experimenter knows the difference between treatments, and acts accordingly, affecting results.

Single Blind

When the subjects do not know what experimental group they are in, but the researchers know what treatment they are receiving.

Zero Correlation

When the variables have no correlation and no relationship exists between them.

Negative Correlation

When the variables move opposite ^v or v^.

Positive Correlation

When the variables move together ^^ or vv.